Irenicism in
Christian theology
Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...
refers to attempts to unify Christian
apologetical systems by using
reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
as an essential attribute. The word is derived from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
word ''ειρήνη (eirene)'' meaning
peace
Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...
. It is a concept related to a communal theology and opposed to committed differences, which can cause unavoidable tension or friction, and is rooted in the ideals of
pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...
. Those who affiliate themselves with irenicism identify the importance of unity in the Christian Church and declare the common bond of all Christians under
Christ
Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
.
Erasmus and his influence
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
was a
Christian humanist
Christian humanism refers to two intellectual movements: the anti-paganizing wing of sixteenth century Renaissance humanism (the scholarly movement and worldview that recovered the classical humanities and ideals of citizenship and human dignity; ...
and reformer, in the sense of checking clerical abuses, honoring inner
piety
Piety is a virtue which may include religious devotion or spirituality. A common element in most conceptions of piety is a duty of respect. In a religious context, piety may be expressed through pious activities or devotions, which may vary amon ...
, considering reason as meaningful in theology as in other ways. He also promoted the notion that Christianity must remain under one church, both theologically and literally, under the body of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Since his time, irenicism has postulated removing conflicts between different Christian creeds by way of mediation and gradual amalgamation of theological differences. Erasmus wrote extensively on topics related generally to peace, and an irenic approach is part of the texture of his thought, both on theology and in relation to politics:
Despite the frequency and severity of polemics directed against him, Erasmus continued ... to practice a kind of discourse that is critical and ironic, yet modest and irenic.
Certain important irenic contributions from Erasmus helped to further the humanist consideration of themes of peace and religious conciliation; these included the ''Inquisitio de fide'' (1524), arguing against the papal opinion that
Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
was a heretic, and ''De sarcienda ecclesiae concordia'' (1533). Erasmus had close associates sharing his views (
Julius von Pflug,
Christoph von Stadion
Christoph von Stadion (Mid-March 1478 – 15 April 1543) was Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg from 1517 to 1543.
Biography
Christoph von Stadion was born in Schelklingen in mid-March 1478, the son of Nikolaus von Sta ...
,
Jakob Ziegler and
Jan Łaski
Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form ...
) and was followed on the Catholic side by
George Cassander and
Georg Witzel.
The influence of Erasmus was, however, limited, by the virtual exclusion of his works from countries such as France, from 1525, at least in the open; though they did appear in numerous forms and translations. James Hutton speaks of "the surreptitious manner in which Erasmus' peace propaganda reached the French public."
Franciscus Junius published in 1593 ''Le paisible Chrestien'' arguing for
religious tolerance
Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...
and
Ecumenism
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
. He addressed
Philip II of Spain
Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
, using arguments taken from the French ''
politique'' statesman
Michel de l'Hôpital and reformer
Sebastian Castellio.
17th century: Catholics and Protestants
Irenic movements were influential in the 17th century, and irenicism, for example in the form of
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in ad ...
's efforts to reunite Catholics and Protestants, is in some ways a forerunner to the more modern
ecumenical
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
movements.
The 1589 ''Examen pacifique de la doctrine des Huguenots'' by
Henry Constable proved influential, for example on
Christopher Potter and
William Forbes.
Richard Montagu
Richard Montagu (or Mountague) (1577 – 13 April 1641) was an English cleric and prelate.
Early life
Montagu was born during Christmastide 1577 at Dorney, Buckinghamshire, where his father Laurence Mountague was vicar, and was educated at E ...
admired Cassander and
Andreas Fricius. The 1628 ''Syllabus aliquot synodorum'' was a bibliography of the literature of religious concord, compiled by
Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul
Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villiers-St-Paul (1552 – 1636) was a French diplomat. Although he came from a Calvinist family, who had been exiled during the French Wars of Religion, Jean, through cultivating connections with Henry IV of France, Henry ...
decades earlier, and seen into print by
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...
using the pseudonym "Theodosius Irenaeus," with a preface by
Matthias Bernegger
Matthias Bernegger (, also ''Matthew'';Jerzy Dobrzycki: ''The reception of Copernicus' heliocentric theory'', International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science. Nicolas Copernicus Committe/ref> born 8 February 1582 in Hallstatt, Salzkamm ...
.
It was typical enough, however, for moderate and even irenical writers on the Catholic side to find in this period that their arguments were turned back against Catholicism. This style of arguing developed in England from
Thomas Bell and particularly
Thomas Morton. It led to
Thomas James mining
Marcantonio de Dominis and
Paolo Sarpi
Paolo Sarpi, O.S.M. (14 August 1552 – 15 January 1623) was an Italian Servite friar and Catholic priest who was a notable historian, scientist, canon lawyer, polymath and statesman active on behalf of the Venetian Republic during the period ...
, and making efforts to claim Witzel for the Protestant tradition; to the arguments of
Gallicanism
Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has something ...
being welcomed but also treated as particularly insidious; and an irenist such as
Francis a Sancta Clara being attacked strongly by firm
Calvinist
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
s. The handful of Protestant writers who were convinced in their irenic approach to Catholics included
William Covell and
Thomas Dove.
17th century: Protestant divisions
James I of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...
thought that the Bible translation he commissioned might effect some reconciliation between the English Protestant religious factions, and prove an ''irenicon''. The Greek ἐιρηνικόν (''eirenikon'') or peace proposal is also seen as ''irenicum'' in its Latin version.
An irenic literature developed, relating to divisions within Protestantism, particularly in the twenty years after the
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...
. Examples marked out by title are:
*
David Pareus, ''Irenicum sive de unione et synodo Evangelicorum'' (1614)
*
John Forbes, ''Irenicum Amatoribus Veritatis et Pacis in Ecclesia Scotiana'' (Aberdeen, 1629)
*
Jeremiah Burroughs, ''Irenicum'' (1653)
*
John Dury
John Dury (1596 in Edinburgh – 1680 in Kassel) was a Scottish Calvinist minister and an intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he move ...
, ''Irenicum: in quo casus conscientiæ inter ecclesias evangelicas pacis, breviter proponuntur & decidunter'' (1654)
*
Daniel Zwicker, ''Irenicum irenicorum'' (1658)
*
Edward Stillingfleet
Edward Stillingfleet (17 April 1635 – 27 March 1699) was an English Christian theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of ho ...
, ''Irenicum: A Weapon Salve for the Church's Wounds'' (1659 and 1661)
*
Matthew Newcomen
Matthew Newcomen (c. 1610 – 1 September 1669) was an English nonconformist churchman.
His exact date of birth is unknown. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge (M.A. 1633). In 1636 he became lecturer at Dedham in Essex, and led th ...
. ''Irenicum; or, An essay towards a brotherly peace & union, between those of the congregational and presbyterian way'' (1659)
*
Moses Amyraut
Moïse Amyraut (Latin: Moyses Amyraldus; September 1596 – 8 January 1664), in English texts often Moses Amyraut, was a French Huguenot, Reformed theologian and metaphysician. He was the architect of Amyraldism, a Calvinist doctrine that made ...
, ''Irenicum sive de ratione pacis in religionis negotio inter Evangelicos'' (1662)
*
Samuel Mather, ''Irenicum: or an Essay for Union'' (1680)
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
wrote an ''Irenicum'' (unpublished manuscript); it supported a
latitudinarian
Latitudinarians, or latitude men, were initially a group of 17th-century English theologiansclerics and academicsfrom the University of Cambridge who were moderate Anglicans (members of the Church of England). In particular, they believed that a ...
position in theology, derived from a review of church history.
Evaluation of early modern irenicism
Anthony Milton writes:
cumenical historianshave tended to assume the existence of an irenical 'essentialism' in which the association of Christian unity with peace, toleration and ecumenism is presupposed. ..In fact, most thinkers of this period accepted that religious unity was a good idea, in the same way that they believed that sin was a bad idea. The problem was that, of course, different people wanted irenicism on different terms. ..Different interpretations of irenicism could have direct political implications, making the rhetoric of Christian unity an important tool in the political conflicts of the period.
It is in that light that he comments on the irenists' succession: Erasmus, Cassander,
Jacob Acontius, Grotius, then John Dury, who spent much time on a proposed reconciliation of Lutherans and Calvinists.
Modern usage
''Irenical'' has become a commonly used adjective to design an idealist and pacific conception, such as the
democratic peace theory
Proponents of democratic peace theory argue that both electoral and republican forms of democracy are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Different advocates of this theory suggest that several factors ar ...
.
''False irenicism'' or ''false eirenism'' is an expression used in certain 20th-century documents of the Catholic Church to criticize attempts at ecumenism that would allow Catholic doctrine to be distorted or clouded. Documents using the term include the
encyclical letter
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...
''
Humani generis
''Humani generis'' is a papal encyclical that Pope Pius XII promulgated on 12 August 1950, "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic Doctrine". It primarily discussed, the encyclical says, "new opinion ...
'', promulgated by
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
in 1950,
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
's encyclical letter, ''
Ecclesiam Suam
''Ecclesiam Suam'' is an encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI on the Catholic Church given at St. Peter's, Rome, on the Feast of the Transfiguration, 6 August 1964, the second year of his Pontificate.
In the opening words of the letter, Pope Paul ...
'', the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
's 1964 Decree on
Ecumenism
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
, ''
Unitatis Redintegratio
''Unitatis redintegratio'' (''Restoration of unity'') is the Second Vatican Council's decree on ecumenism. It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the bishops assembled at the Council, and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 21 November 1964.
T ...
,''
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
's ''
Ut unum sint
''Ut unum sint'' (Latin: 'That they all may be one, That they may be one') is an encyclical on ecumenism by Pope John Paul II of 25 May 1995. It was one of 14 encyclicals he issued, and Cardinal Georges Cottier, Theologian of the Pontifical Hou ...
'', and his 1984 post-synodal apostolic exhortation, ''
Reconciliatio et paenitentia
''Reconciliatio et paenitentia'' () is an apostolic exhortation by Pope John Paul II, delivered on 2 December 1984 in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which grew out of the Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in 1983. The fourth ...
''.
Modern positive examples of Catholic non-false irenicism can be seen in the
Document on Human Fraternity joint declaration of
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
and
Sheikh
Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
Ahmed el-Tayeb
Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb (; born 6 January 1946) is an Egyptian Islamic scholar and the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar, al-Azhar al-Sharif and former president of al-Azhar University. He was appointed by the Egyptian President, Hosni Muba ...
, and of
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
's reported request
for the Catholic church to participate in celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017.
Notes
Further reading
{{Wiktionary
*
Howard Louthan (1997), ''The Quest for Compromise: Peacemakers in Counter-Reformation Vienna''
*Joris van Eijnatten (1998), ''Mutua Christianorum Tolerantia: Irenicism and Toleration in the Netherlands: The Stinstra Affair, 1740–1745''
*Samuel J. T. Miller, ''Molanus, Lutheran Irenicist (1633–1722)'' Church History, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1953), pp. 197–218
*Bodo Nischan, ''John Bergius: Irenicism and the Beginnings of Official Religious Toleration in Brandenburg-Prussia'', Church History, vol. 51 (1982), pp. 389–404
*Michael B. Lukens, ''Witzel and Erasmian Irenicism in the 1530s'', The Journal of Theological Studies 1988 39(1):134-136
*Graeme Murdock,''The Boundaries of Reformed Irenicism: Hungary and Transylvania'' in Howard Louthan, Randall Zachman (eds), From Conciliarism to Confessional Church, 1400–1618 (South Bend: Notre Dame Press, 2004).
*Daphne M. Wedgbury, ''Protestant Irenicism and the Millennium: Mede and the Hartlib Circle'', in Jeffrey K. Jue (editor), Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede (1586–1638) and the Legacy of Millenarianism (2006)
History of Christian theology
Political theories
Religion and peace